


who needs to wish on candles when I've got you

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Bliss, Eren's Birthday, M/M, So Married, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 01:51:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6403774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Well, Eren thought, upon coming home early and smelling something wonderful in his kitchen. Burglars didn’t <i>usually</i> cook meals in the homes they robbed…</p>
            </blockquote>





	who needs to wish on candles when I've got you

Eren could smell something cooking the second the unlocked front door swung open, inward into their apartment so that the heavenly scent could flood the hallway behind him. He raised his eyebrows, but they bent with confusion a second later, because it was only _five_. Who the hell was cooking in his kitchen at _five_ , when Levi was supposed to be at work until six?

“Um,” Eren said, because this was a really weird thing to encounter, the prospect of a cooking robber. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time again, but the screen still read _5:23PM_ , so he wasn’t going crazy. Unless, of course, he was so hungry he was hallucinating, which was possible since he’d skipped lunch.

The wonderful smell creeping out from his kitchen has his stomach gurgling before Eren could decide if he should call Levi to ask where he was. If there was someone in his kitchen cooking, chances were that it _was_ Levi, since Levi was the only other one who had the key, considering how they lived together and everything. Still the thought was a little baffling and Eren closed the front door quietly, creeping through the living room, still lit by the spring sunlight coming through the window across the room, before dumping his stuff over the arm of the couch and toeing off his shoes. From there he padded in his socks around the corner, catching a glimpse of their dining table before he saw the kitchen proper.

The sight of the table, however, kind of stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Oh,” Eren breathed, no real weight to his words, they barely made a sound and yet they felt heavy in his mouth, something lodged in his throat that he tried to swallow around. His eyes started to burn, pinpricks in the corners, a blurriness that soon overtook his vision as he sucked in a breath and blew it out through his teeth, trying to wrestle his emotions under control and losing to a landslide of fondness that crashed through his chest like a sledgehammer.

There were candles, not yet lit, piled together at one end, candle holders too with a rag curled around on, probably mid-shine before Eren’s ridiculous husband had walked away to do something else. Eren’s vision swamp at the pile of presents next to the candles, with _ribbons_ , some of them in _bags_ , and Eren tried to count them but he had to close his eyes, vertigo overcoming him in waves. He wiped at his cheeks, feeling like he would laugh if there was any air in his lungs, and he turned, taking long strides past the stack of the good china they’d gotten from Kushel, past Levi’s wedding ring placed so carefully, glinting heavenly gold in the light, until he was standing in the kitchen proper, which-

Looked like a goddamn whirlwind had gone through it.

Levi was bent over a book, mostly turned away from Eren, wearing what was probably the messiest apron Eren had ever seen with his hands planted firmly on the counter. Levi’s usually neat hair was a mess, curling and sticking up slightly, and Eren imagined what he had missed, Levi’s pacing, his muttering, hands running through his hair in agitation the way he’d picked up from Eren sometime during their time dating.

Eren licked his lips, biting down on his lower lip slightly to try and compose whatever his face was doing. Levi’s fingers started to tap on the counter, a steady staccato sound that slowed Eren’s racing heart into something more manageable, his breaths coming deeper and easier as he stared at the strong lines of Levi’s shoulders and swallowed thickly around the feeling of how _lucky_ he was to have Levi in his life.

“Hey,” Eren said, eventually, after several disgusted unintelligible noises from Levi’s mouth, a few twitches of his shoulders to accompany them. Levi jumped like a spooked cat, nearly climbing the counter in his surprise before whirling, wide eyed and pink cheeked, to look at Eren.

There was something, maybe flour, on Levi’s jawline.

Eren loved him so much it made his head spin.

“ _Eren_ ,” Levi hissed. He clutched at the apron straps, knuckles white, and for a minute Eren almost apologized, but he found his tongue too tangled in his own mouth to speak. “Jesus _Christ_ , what are you doing home? You’re not supposed to be home for _ages_.”

Eren couldn’t imagine being offended by the accusation in Levi’s tone, not when it was softened by the tug of Levi’s fingers on his apron, the messy haphazard state of the kitchen. Not with the birthday presents sitting on the dining table behind him, not with a fucking _birthday cake_ cooling on the counter beside the kitchen sink, icing and candles and strawberries sitting beside it, presumably waiting for decoration time.

Not when his throat was closing over with how obvious it was that Levi loved him. How could Eren ever be offended when it was so obvious Levi wasn’t _mad_ , just surprised and frazzled.

“Sorry,” Eren managed to get out, around the thing in his throat that was more than lightly his heart. He laughed weakly, running a hand through his hair and watching Levi twitch, hands trembling at his sides. Eren sniffed, chin wobbling a little as his eyes filled with tears again. “Sorry, I know I’m early, I just- Hannes told me if I wasn’t gone by the time he came back with a new cup of coffee he’d drag me from the office by my hair, so I thought I’d come home and clean up or something, ‘cause I thought we would just, like, get dinner somewhere or-“

“ _Shit_ ,” Levi swore. His eyes went wide and Eren realized a second too late what he’d said as the motion of Levi’s head swiveling around seemed to encompass the whole kitchen in its state of upheaval. “ _Fuck_ , I’m sorry, _shit_ , I should’ve known you’d want to go out, I should’ve just stuck with the cake, Eren, I’m _so_ sorry-“

“ _Levi_ ,” Eren said, his husband’s name falling from his tongue so quickly and fondly he almost tripped on it as he rushed forward. “Hey, _no_ , I didn’t really wanna go out; I just didn’t want you to have to go to all this effort over me, it’s okay.” He swallowed, throat scraped raw, and he reached up like gravity was pulling at him to cradle Levi’s face, fingers swiping carefully through the flour there. Levi’s cheeks boomed pink, eyes fluttering closed for a minute until his lashes kissed his cheeks. Eren, not to be made jealous by the motion of _eyelashes_ , bent forward to kiss Levi’s cheeks too, kissing along the bridge of Levi’s nose and around his jaw as well, until Levi was laughing faintly and Eren’s lips were coated in flour. He stuck his tongue out at the taste and Levi peeked up at him, rolling beautiful icecap eyes as he leaned forward into Eren’s touch, his dirty hands held carefully away from Eren’s clothes.

“It’s okay, Levi,” Eren repeated quietly, voice thick like there was a roadblock in his windpipe, everything detouring through his nose as Levi huffed quietly at him, eyes narrowing. “I love when you cook dinner, I just didn’t expect it. Need some help?”

“Need some- _need some help_ , he says,” Levi repeated, voice part incredulous and part fond, a cocktail of wonder as he leaned up to kiss Eren’s lips. Eren smiled against his husband’s mouth, stroking his fingers down Levi’s neck and grinning when it made him shiver. “It’s your fucking birthday, Eren, I’m not going to make you help me cook your surprise dinner.”

Eren glanced around the kitchen, making a show of arching his eyebrows and widening his eyes, and Levi snorted, twisting to dig his elbow lightly into Eren’s side as he ducked to hide his face against Eren’s shoulder. It was a marvel of a thing, realizing Levi was _embarrassed_ to have been caught cooking like this for him, all out with the cookbook and the candles and the nice china on the table, and Eren could only wrap his arms around Levi’s shoulders, pulling their bodies flush together in a tight embrace.

“I love you,” Eren murmured, lips brushing Levi’s hair, skimming the edge of his ear as his shorter husband twisted his head up until his chin dug into Eren’s shoulder. Eren just held him tighter, eyes screwed closed as his body trembled, his happiness such a tangible thing he vibrated with it. “Levi, _Christ_ , I love you _so much_.”

Hands clutched at Eren’s back, Levi’s breath coming hitched and heavy against Eren’s throat, and Levi was trembling too, a little shiver that traced down under Eren’s hands and then travelled back up, until Eren could feel it tracing his arms and down his spine as well.

“And I love _you_ ,” Levi said, clearing his throat to make his voice more firm when it wobbled somewhere in the missing of you, threatening to crack. Eren smoothed his hands up Levi’s t-shirt, feeling the way Levi sighed out in the rise and fall of his shoulders, in the ghost of a breath’s kiss against the collar of his button up shirt. “So, so much, Eren. I’m sorry I didn’t manage to get dinner ready before you came home.”

Eren pulled back, curling his hand around Levi’s jaw, his fingertips brushing Levi’s hair as he scoffed. “Shut up,” Eren muttered, lips pulling into a grin as Levi immediately rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry I came home early and ruined the surprise.”

His dark haired husband pretended to sniff, Levi’s sense of humor flaring to life as his lips curled almost of their own accord. “You better be,” Levi teased, lifting his chin up in an over exaggeration of how he’d been wronged. “I’ve been planning this for _weeks_.”

Laughter floated like bubbles from a toy wand, curling up Eren’s throat in a warm magical wave to burst upon his tongue. He shook with it, releasing Levi reluctantly with one last kiss pressed against the crest of Levi’s cheek. Levi seemed to be infected by Eren’s laughter, snorting before the bell-like sound Eren would have gone to war for filled their kitchen, Levi’s hands swatting at Eren’s chest as they parted, fond but not quite as pale as Eren’s shirt, no matter how much he teased him about that.

“Go get changed,” Levi told him and Eren saluted, just to hear him groan in an effort not to laugh again. “Then, I guess, since you’re _here_ , you can help me cook, if you must.”

“I must,” Eren told him honestly. He couldn’t imagine just sitting around, watching Levi do all the work, just because he happened to be born on this day twenty-seven years ago. Levi’s grin softened into something round and bright, a smile that curled around Eren’s heart in his chest and squeezed it tight with so many tangled, warm emotions Eren couldn’t name them all. “Thank you, babe. Really.”

“Shut up,” Levi muttered, echoing Eren’s earlier words fondly. Eren snorted and stepped back, turning to go, but Levi grabbed his sleeve, pulling him in and craning for one more kiss. Eren fell into the kiss happily, arm curling around Levi’s waist, their noses brushing as their lips slotted together, perfectly in sync as Levi opened his mouth in a sigh, Eren’s tongue curling around his in a way that had both of them clutching at the other just a tad tighter. Eren meant to draw back, but every time their lips parted Eren found himself instead biting at Levi’s lips, tracing them with his tongue, their breaths heavy and damp and shared, mouths a familiar exploration he never tired from until his head was swimming once more.

“Is that a whisk in your pocket or are you happy to see me,” Eren murmured and Levi laughed, an open mouthed full body affair that ended in another drifting, tangled, warm kiss. But, as much as Eren would have liked to kiss Levi until the stars themselves collapsed around them, eventually there began a beeping noise behind them, the stove’s timer going off in its familiar shrill alarm.

“Mhmm,” Levi mumbled, pulling back, his eyes so warm they burned like molten glass. “Go get changed. I have to get that.”

 “ _Fine_ ,” Eren said, an exaggerated whine that put a sparkle in Levi’s eyes, all mirth and light mixed into something wonderful, like the creation of the universe birthed inside Eren’s chest and nestled against his heart. And then, because the feeling was as massive as the universe itself, pressing the words against his teeth in an unstoppable way, he added, “I love you.”

“I love _you_ too,” Levi answered. Eren wondered if he knew about the space metaphors in his head, how they were all twisting together again into some kind of nebula. He’d tell Levi later and Levi would tell him he’d always been poetic like that, and Eren would tell him that it’d just because he edits the poetry section of the magazine, and Levi would look at him with fire, with something holy in his eyes that Eren had once considered writing about in worship, and say _it’s not just the editing_.

Levi had, from the day they’d met, believed there was something beautiful in Eren, something wonderful and inspiring, in his words. Sometimes Eren still found himself baffled at Levi’s level of faith in him, but other times…

Other times he stood in their messy kitchen on his birthday, a pile of presents behind him and a messy haired husband staring at him with bright eyes and lips red from being kissed, and Eren didn’t bother wondering what he’d done to deserve this. Who cared what he’d done; he had Levi and that was everything he needed in life.

“Happy Birthday, babe,” Levi added, as Eren blinked his dizzying thoughts away, clearing his head so that he could live in the moment, no muddled metaphors tying him up. He swallowed before grinning, chest constricting as he breathed out.

“Thank you,” Eren said.

Levi, understanding what he meant, what he had left unsaid, smiled. “Any time, love,” Levi said and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he shook his head, his smile growing larger as he twisted back to the stove. Eren, contentment a warm thing tucked inside every bone in his body, smiled once more at his back before turning to pad to their bedroom to change.

**Author's Note:**

> it's the son's birthday!!! and what better birthday gift for my child then domestic married bliss tbh. luv u Eren.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed!


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